The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Brainerd, David

BRAINERD, David, an American missionary, born at Haddam, Conn., April 20, 1718, died at Northampton, Mass., Oct. 9, 1747. In 1739 he entered Yale college to prepare himself for the ministry, but was expelled in 1742, for having said of one of the tutors that he had no more of the grace of God than a chair. He was licensed the same year as a preacher, and received an appointment from the society for the propagation of Christian knowledge, as missionary among the Indians near Stockbridge, Mass. He was ordained in 1744, and went on a mission to the Indians at the forks of the Delaware in Pennsylvania, making two visits to the Indians of the Susquehanna. He met with little success until, after a year, he went to reside among those at Crossweeksung near Newark, N. J. Here he is said to have produced a great change among the savages, and to have baptized 78, of whom 38 were adults. In 1747 he went to Northampton, Mass., where he died after a short stay in the family of Jonathan Edwards, by whom his biography was soon afterward written. A new edition of this work, together with his journals, Mirabilia Dei apud Indicos, and &ldquo;Grace Displayed,&rdquo; was published in 1822.